Watching

Some years ago Jack Doerr, a Christian Scientist from St. Louis, was traveling midweek on business in Texas. That Wednesday evening he attended a Christian Science meeting and heard a testimony that stayed with him.

Years afterward, Mr. Doerr—a longtime Principia dad and alum—was preparing a chapel talk at The Principia Upper School. (Chapel talks are intimate settings for students, faculty, and staff to gather to hear inspired speakers.) He wanted to share the testimony he’d heard in that little Texas church, so he dialed its number in hopes of finding someone who knew testimony and testifier. The sweet-voiced woman who answered the phone said she was the mother—and she gave Mr. Doerr permission to share her testimony at the chapel talk.

A Principia teacher who was present at the chapel that morning shared the testimony with friends, including me. Though it was never published, I verify its authenticity based on the character of each teller.

The spiritual power of the truth that man is God’s “perfect image and likeness,” which had been their daily declaration for many weeks, not only protected the child but allowed his mother to release him to God, which caused her to remain spiritually calm and clear despite his apparent decease. Faithfully keeping active watch of her thoughts had defended them both from the foe—the lie of life in matter.

The community in that Texas town called it a miracle. The young mother called it a divinely natural proof of God’s love—and she later became a Christian Science practitioner.

Photo by Jeff Dunham on Unsplash

Christian Science Nurse Intern Opportunity

The Christian Science Nursing Youth Service Corps, a project of the Youth Action Committee, seeks to make young Christian Scientists, ages 18–30, aware of a threefold opportunity: serve others, learn lots, and get paid for nine months! To find out more details, please visit  www.comforterscalling.org or email csnyouthservicecorps@gmail.com .

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Lynne Clark – The Woodlands Church
Grace Duffy – First Church, Durango, CO

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

Pray With Us

In recent months, the Board of Directors of the Houston Visiting Christian Science Nurse Service has been actively listening for divine direction on a subject that we are now ready to present to you for your prayerful consideration. It is this: We have a growing conviction of the wisdom of either building or buying and renovating a home that would be suitable as a spiritual rest and healing retreat for Houston-area Christian Scientists. We would love to have you join us in praying about this proposal. If divine Love leads you to share either metaphysical inspiration or practical suggestions on this subject, please don't hesitate to contact us at HoustonVCSNS.comments@gmail.com .

True Education

A great deal of media attention has been focused of late on the education of children. At issue is whether children should return to school this fall or remain at home. No matter what each family decides to do, the pervading fear that we are living in a pandemic-driven "new normal" can feel like a dark cloud overhead, dimming all children's educational prospects.

Actually, education is not confined to children. It includes each of us, no matter our age. It is lifelong learning. Thus, the place where education is happening is beside the point. That's the premise of education pioneer Mary Kimball Morgan, who founded Principia College in 1898. She writes:
 

Morgan reminds us that true education involves putting God first. Education is not the mere accumulation of facts. It is not confined to formal educational timetables. Rather, it is the development of moral character, which is perpetual. Not confined to "the letter," it embodies "the spirit" of the two great commandments: Love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

It we fail to discipline our thoughts and lives in accord with divinely inspired moral values, we unwittingly sow seeds of chaos. Morgan puts it this way:
 
Another deep spiritual thinker in the Christian Science movement who well understands that the consequences of human will have nothing to do with “the establishment of right thinking” is Barbara Cook Spencer, a longtime Journal-listed Christian Science practitioner.

In a talk given to Christian Science nurses at Fern Lodge in 1993, when she was still Barbara Cook, she says: “Human will is the essence of the belief in thought and action separate from God. It is chronic rebellion against divine authority. And this rebellion leads to the belief that the body, the subjective state of mortal mind, can be rebellious and disobedient, subject to all kinds of overactive and underactive behavior—like poor circulation, or abnormal cell multiplication. Disease is disobedience, a body in mutiny against government, as human will is mutiny against the Holy Ghost” ("The Dove's Dry Land", the closing poem of this talk, was published in The Journal ).

From these statements we see that the goal of true education is to stir us to right thinking, which ultimately dispels belief in the generally accepted view that we are under the imposed confines of a "new normal"—or, indeed, that there can exist any limited view, whether new or old, of God’s perfect man.

What wipes out this wrong view of man as willful and disobedient and limited? Cook's answer: “Our work—self-immolation [self-forgetfulness]—is to make room for the Holy Ghost.”

Yes, Morgan and Cook have described true education. Clearly, a physical place—whether school or home—has nothing to do with our acceptance of the Holy Ghost. With our lifelong learning of and growth in grace.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Lynne Clark – The Woodlands Church
Grace Duffy – First Church, Durango, CO

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

Celebration and Gratitude

On July 4th America will celebrate its 244-year-old Declaration of Independence from tyranny. For many years both before and after this famous document was signed, the colonists endured unjust restrictions and harsh privations in their unflagging pursuit of freedom. Yet their faith in the Almighty's justice and mercy remained unwavering.

Our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, was likewise inspired during a time of crisis. It heralds Providence's protection during a long, anguishing night of battle, when “the dawn’s early light” revealed the fort intact and found our “flag was still there.”

There have been, and undoubtedly will continue to be, many such testing times for this nation — for every nation. As individuals, too, we encounter trials. By trusting divine guidance, we face these challenges boldly and emerge with newfound purpose. With humble expectancy and acceptance of good. With gratitude for God's uninterrupted reign of harmony and peace.

We are guaranteed to learn needed spiritual lessons from tribulation when we follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. Ever conscious of His Father's goodness, Jesus remained at peace during tumultuous times. When political and religious intolerance was harsh, hostile, extreme, he didn't lead protest marches against injustice or sign petitions addressed to the temple rabbis. Instead, Jesus simply loved. Honoring his Father, divine Love, he loved in the holy, unselfed way that healed all who appealed to him for help. Such pure and perfect love, originating in the Father and best embodied in His Son, shone on all alike, transforming receptive hearts and minds and ultimately changing the course of the entire world, without flourish or fanfare.

The meekest yet mightiest of men, Jesus always gave gratitude to God. The Bible records him lifting his eyes and thanking God before the five thousand were fed and before Lazarus rose from his grave. Looking up — away from the discordant impositions the world saw — he humbly acknowledged God's infinite love and man’s innate freedom. The blind, the lame, the deaf, the mute, the leprous — all were freed from the prison of belief that there could be a power other than God, Love.

The Discoverer, Founder, and Leader of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, knew that her mission on earth was to prove that the peace and harmony Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated was a practical Science meeting every human need — and not simply a dim hope. She carried out that mission by following the Master's example of looking up to God — for direction and with gratitude —when she awoke every morning and when she put her head on her pillow every night.

Mrs. Eddy kept on her nightstand this single sentence written by her friend Phillips Brooks, Episcopal pastor of Trinity Church in Boston:

At the bottom she had penciled the words: "The secret of my life is in the above."

So, when should we lift our thought and look up to God in thanks? Always! One especially good time to celebrate His love is on the 4th of July, when we're gazing up at fireworks. These dazzling displays of light — best seen in darkest night — fill us with wonder, awe, and joy! Let us then, now, and always rejoice that “Truth and Love come nearer in the hour of woe, when strong faith or spiritual strength wrestles and prevails through the understanding of God.” (Science and Health, 567:3–6).

Photos by Karolina Grabowska and Anna-Louise from Pexels

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Lynne Clark – The Woodlands Church
Grace Duffy – The Mother Church

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

Peace of Mind

“Quiet minds can not be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."

– Robert Louis Stevenson

It is comforting to picture quiet minds moving calmly onward despite external storms, but true calm comes from our steadfast spiritual understanding that one Mind governs all.

In these particularly trying times, we are daily faced with the mental imposition of many groups of human minds trying to influence, coerce, or control others. Sometimes we may feel bombarded by fear and doubt as these not-so-quiet human minds — be they healthcare industry officials or government leaders — give oft-changing recommendations of actions to take or not to take.

How can we rise above the turmoil swirling around us? Better yet, how can we help the world be free of the grip of fear and confusion?

The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy writes: “Growth is governed by intelligence; by the active, all-wise, law-creating, law-disciplining, law-abiding Principle, God. The real Christian Scientist is constantly accentuating harmony in word and deed, mentally and orally, perpetually repeating this diapason of heaven: ‘Good is my God, and my God is good. Love is my God, and God is Love’" (Miscellaneous Writings 206:17).

When we rely on God, Mind, our thought is calmed, quieted. Our consciousness is uplifted by our sure knowing that we can never be outside of infinite Mind. Like a clock during a thunderstorm, we can live and move in perfect peace.

For Your Info:

We thought you’d like to be reminded that there are several national and international organizations that nurture Christian Science nursing. They are, in no particular order:

1. The Principle Foundation
   The mission of The Principle Foundation (TPF) is to provide inspired benevolence in accordance with the teachings of Christian Science. This benevolence can range from short-term grants that cover temporary needs, including practitioner bills, to disaster relief to assistance for inmates being released from prison. Any Christian Scientist may apply for financial assistance at www.principlefoundation.org.


2. The National Fund for Christian Science Nursing
   This benevolence fund assists Christian Scientists in the United States and its territories when they require the help of a Christian Science nurse, whether for home care or in a Christian Science care facility. The Principle Foundation administers this fund in collaboration with the AOCSN, CSNN, and CSNC/Philanthropy Forum.  www.NFCSN.org


3. Association of Organizations for Christian Science Nursing
   The AOCSN fosters communication and mutual support among Christian Science nursing organizations. Its members disseminate valuable information about Christian Science nursing standards, Christian Science nursing education, Christian Science nursing management, and organizational administration and governance. The Houston Visiting Christian Science Nurse Service, Inc. is a member of the AOCSN.  www.AOCSN.org


4. Christian Science Nursing Network, Inc.
   The CSNN is a not-for-profit corporation committed to supporting the healing ministry of Christian Science nursing worldwide by providing, to Christian Science nurses, opportunities for communication, inspiration and continuing education. Susie Petersen, our Journal-listed Christian Science nurse, is a member of CSNN.  www.csnnetwork.org


5. The Christian Science Nursing Collaborative
   The CSNC is a community comprised of Christian Science nurses, Christian Science nursing facilities, Christian Science visiting nurse services, Christian Science nurse professional associations, The Mother Church, and other supporting organizations (i.e., Philanthropy Forum). It is dedicated to the spiritually vital activity and ministry of Christian Science nursing (see Church Manual, p. 49, Sect. 31), and its purpose is to ensure that “Every Christian Scientist has access to Christian Science nursing if they need it.” 
   www.csncollaborative.org

Has this been sitting, unused, in your closet or garage?

Have you been storing but no longer need a mobility walker that’s in good-to-mint condition? If you are ready to part with it, please call our Journal-listed Christian Science nurse, Susie Petersen, at 713-304-8384 or susiepetersen3@gmail.com .

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Lynne Clark – The Woodlands Church
Grace Duffy – The Mother Church

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

Who is in Control?

The constant barrage of inflammatory media reports foments more heat than light, more fear than calm, and more opinion than wisdom. As Christian Scientists, our individual responsibility to God is to magnify the good, purify our thoughts, and love our global neighbors.

Mary Baker Eddy provides such guidance in the following article. 

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Contagion. (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 228-229)

Whatever man sees, feels, or in any way takes cognizance of, must be caught through mind; inasmuch as perception, sensation, and consciousness belong to mind and not to matter. Floating with the popular current of mortal thought without questioning the reliability of its conclusions, we do what others say. Common consent is contagious, and it makes disease catching.

People believe in infectious and contagious diseases, and that any one is liable to have them under certain predisposing or exciting causes. This mental state prepares one to have any disease whenever there appear the circumstances which he believes produce it. If he believed as sincerely that health is catching when exposed to contact with healthy people, he would catch their state of feeling quite as surely and with better effect than he does the sick man’s.

If only the people would believe that good is more contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence, how much more certain would be the doctor’s success, and the clergyman’s conversion of sinners. And if only the pulpit would encourage faith in God in this direction, and faith in Mind over all other influences governing the receptivity of the body, theology would teach man as David taught: "Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

The confidence of mankind in contagious disease would thus become beautifully less; and in the same proportion would faith in the power of God to heal and to save mankind increase, until the whole human race would become healthier, holier, happier, and longer lived. A calm, Christian state of mind is a better preventative of contagion than a drug, or than any other possible sanative method; and the "perfect Love" that "casteth out fear" is a sure defense.

Caring for Christian Scientists — A Pilot Program from The Principle Foundation:

Endeavoring to serve the needs of Christian Scientist during the temporary government-ordered containment, The Principle Foundation is initiating the first phase of a pilot program, Caring for Christian Scientists. Prayerful guidance as to how to source information about forms of housing, care, and assistance consistent with the practice of Christian Science have been active since April 20, 2020. According to Bruce L. Jeffrey, Executive Director of The Principle Foundation, “Inquires to this service will be answered by experienced Christian Science nurses who can provide information to Christian Scientists, their families, and/or friends regarding care, assistance, and even possible housing options.”
 

Caring for Christian Scientists
Current National Hours
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Central Time)
7 days a week
Toll-free phone number:
800-930-3797
Caringforchristianscientists.org

“This service — being run by a contractor partnering with us — will be in a pilot phase to launch a more extensive informational website in just a few months, followed by a call center later in the year,” writes The Principle Foundation.

The Houstonvcsns.org Resource page will include updates from The Principle Foundation as they become finalized.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Lynne Clark – The Woodlands Church
Grace Duffy – Eighth Church

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

Eliminating Fear

Infodemic is a new word cropping up in health bulletins and news reports. It means “an excessive amount of information concerning a problem such that the solution is made more difficult” (yourdictionary.com). This is true now, and it was true in 1918 – 1919 when a global pandemic was marked by far more devastating effects. Does our environment inevitably shape our thought and our experience, or is our thought capable of transcending our mortal experience? The experiments (conducted near Niagara Falls, New York) detailed in the following article provide an answer to this question.
 

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From the April 12, 1919, Christian Science Sentinel:

The experiments made at Goat Island by Navy doctors in an effort to learn something about the influenza germ, carry a lesson that every person should study and understand. Fifty young sailors volunteered to become influenza victims, that the doctor might study the disease more carefully. These young men had no fear of the disease; they willingly offered themselves. They were placed with flu patients; they were given jars of flu germs, which they breathed into their lungs; they had flu germs injected into their bodies. Then the medical men prepared to study the cases as they developed. 

But no cases developed among these fifty sailors! These men had been inoculated; they had been exposed to the disease in every manner; they had breathed in the germs and eaten and slept with flu victims, and not one of them became infected! The medical men confessed themselves baffled. All their ideas of the disease were topsy-turvy. The bunk about the masks was again exposed; and it was shown that the disease was not communicable, not contagious. The doctors are still wondering. The explanation, however, is simplicity itself, for it was proved by each of these fifty young men.

These fifty young men volunteered to act as subjects upon which to be experimented. This showed clearly that they did not fear the disease. In other words, they could not acquire what they did not fear. Since their fear of the disease was gone, the disease was absolutely nonexistent, even though every effort was made to force it on them.

There can be no clearer nor better proof of the oft stated and rapidly being accepted fact that mind controls matter. Medical men are now acknowledging this condition. They are the first to tell patients to eliminate fear. When this is done, their work is done. There would be no cases of influenza if every person in the state would do as these fifty Goat Island sailors did; namely, eliminate fear of the disease.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay

God's Children

The other day from the woods behind our home there appeared six young deer calmly walking down the greenbelt. They stopped just outside our wrought iron fence as we breathlessly watched through the window. They serenely munched grass and nibbled low-hanging tree leaves. Once in a while, a deer stopped, stood perfectly still and vigilant, until seeing, sensing all was well, resumed eating. The other deer continued grazing, unafraid and unaffected. Then, a different deer repeated the same alert stance. Thus, these dear creatures calmly moved about their business. When they were finished, they one by one slowly and naturally disappeared into the heavy brush of the woods. They illustrated the equipoise of Love, and I thought how God is perfectly caring for them. The night before had brought a hard rain, surely drenching the deer, yet they appeared unfazed and beautiful − and dry! Their poise and grace and alertness stay with me. We, like those deer and the sailors of Goat Island, truly do remain untouched by false fears as we move alertly, serenely, confidently through our day.

Mrs. Eddy posed this question when she wrote in April 1910:

“When will mankind awake to know their present ownership of all good, and praise and love the spot where God dwells most conspicuously in His reflection of love and leadership?” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 356).

Photo by John Royle on Unsplash

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Lynne Clark – The Woodlands Church
Grace Duffy – Eighth Church

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

Welcome to Spring!

For many, springtime means spring cleaning. In neighborhoods across the country, people are cultivating gardens and holding garage sales. It’s a time when dead leaves and clutter are swept away in the spirit of new beginnings.

We understand that the joy of undertaking these projects − and doing them well − comes only when we are willing to purge whatever is finally deemed undesirable in our lives. This purging process clears the way for growth, and not just for the growth of bright flowers, but for our inner growth as well − our spiritual growth. And doesn’t such growth, whether we experience it or witness it in others, always give us a more profound feeling of the transforming character of grace?

As Christian Scientists, we think of grace as a quiet listening to God. It’s a patient waiting on Love with the expectation of seeing more and more evidence of Love’s transformative power. Such transforming Love assures each of us, and our fellow man, that there can be no separation from the good God bestows.

Growth and grace, patience and power are the qualities embodied in the theme we’ve chosen this year for the Houston Visiting Christian Science Nurse Service. Our theme isn’t a single sentence. Rather, it is expressed by two New Testament verses and by a line from the spiritual interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer:

• “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 3:20)
• “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (I Corinthians 2:13)
• “Love is reflected in love” (Science and Health 17:7)

These passages are reminders that all of our daily conversations are in heaven. That we can expect spiritual things − spiritual reality − to spring forth, bud, and blossom in the good soil of our consciousness, like springtime flowers smile out from the earth. That letting in the light of Love, and naturally reflecting it, will warm, brighten the hopes of, and heal all mankind.

Photo: iStock

Advance Healthcare Directive Cards

Every Christian Scientist is entitled to have proof of their declared and protected status as a Christian Scientist. This proof is now available in the form of an Advance Healthcare Directive (AHD) card. The AHD card is a loving provision that informs and guides non-Christian Scientists about your wishes regarding healthcare. It is your legal voice to instruct family, medical providers, and/or first responders of your rights and your expressed desire to rely upon Christian Science for healing. The front of the AHD card shows two places for designation:

• The line MPOA is for your Medical Power of Attorney. This is the individual you designate to represent your wishes to medical authorities should circumstances demand, i.e., temporary incapacitation.
• The opposite line is for your HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) contact. This may be your Christian Science nurse or practitioner. Designating a HIPAA contact allows that individual to access and visit you at a hospital or other medical facility. The medical authorities, bound by confidentiality laws, may not even acknowledge to a Christian Science nurse or practitioner that an individual is a patient, much less allow a visit.

These AHD cards will soon be distributed to area churches. In addition, they will always be available at all HVCSNS functions and events. You can even ask our Journal-listed visiting Christian Science nurse, Susie Petersen, who carries the cards with her at all times. For more information about Advance Directive and Medical Power of Attorney forms, please visit our website: Houstonvcsns.org/Resources .

Volunteering: A Servant’s Heart

There are Christian Scientists who, confined to their home, may be yearning for the caring, compassionate touch of Christly love. Their need is often met by something as simple as reading aloud the weekly Bible Lesson at their bedside or just by sitting with them silently for a little while. When we serve others in this way, we are serving God by following His servant-like Son, Christ Jesus. If you feel called to make a Christian Visit, as we call it, please contact our Journal-listed visiting Christian Science nurse, Susie Petersen. For Susie’s contact information, please visit our website: Houstonvcsns.org/Contact .

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Grace Duffy – Eighth, Church

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

What’s in a Day?

Every day the United States’ calendar commemorates something. This month is no different. While the global community of Christian Scientists come together in prayer for the Bible Lesson on “Love,” the sports world celebrates watching Super Bowl LIV. February 2nd is also Groundhog Day. Let’s not forget National Kite-Flying Day (8th) and Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday (12th), or Valentine’s Day (14th). There are other specially designated dates worth a look: Did you know that President’s Day is also Random Acts of Kindness Day (17th)? Or that February 11th is National Make a Friend Day? Perhaps you didn’t know that February 7th is Give Kids a Smile Day ( nationaltoday.com ). Makes you feel good all over just knowing that, doesn’t it?

The dictionary that Mary Baker Eddy consulted most often defines “love” in part this way: “In short, we love whatever gives us pleasure and delight, whether animal or intellectual; and if our hearts are right, we love God above all things, as the sum of all excellence and all the attributes which can communicate happiness to intelligent beings” (Webster’s 1828 edition – onelook.com ).

Our beloved Discoverer, Founder, and Leader amplified this definition by expounding upon the Master’s love for little children (Matthew 18:1-6) — recognizing, as he did, that God cherishes each of us as an innocent child. She wrote: “Beloved children, the world has need of you, — and more as children than as men and women: it needs your innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontaminated lives. You need also to watch, and pray that you preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through contact with the world. What grander ambition is there than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and to know that your example, more than words, makes morals for mankind!” (Miscellaneous Writings 110:4). Let us watch and pray to preserve these unstained divine virtues for the glory of God and the healing of all mankind.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Print This Newsletter for a Friend

Electronic newsletters are convenient for computer users, but not all of us communicate via computers. If you have friends who prefer reading our newsletters from a printed page, please go to our website at www.Houstonvcsns.org , click on the “Newsletters” tab, and print out as many paper copies as you wish. We thank the technical wizards who recently set up the newsletter’s print option, enabling HVCSNS to more widely embrace and include all Christian Scientists. Hallelujah!

Financial Assistance Available

Any Christian Scientist relying upon the services of a Christian Science practitioner and/or a Journal-listed Christian Science nurse may obtain financial support by applying to the National Fund for Christian Science Nursing (NFCSN). You may contact The Principle Foundation, which manages this fund, by emailing info@nfcsn.org or by calling (800) 873-2843.

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Grace Duffy – Eighth, Church

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.

New Year’s Resolutions

Psychology Today reports that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February Upon what hope may yearning humanity then rely? The Apostle Paul’s wise and loving counsel lifts mankind with these words, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). Paul’s words essentially say that thought is transformed when the heart is renewed by the illuminating light of God, Love. His light ever shines. There’s no need for resolutions; our job is to let that light brighten our path:
 

An Aspiration
Others may be art glass
Of rainbow hue;
I choose to be a windowpane
For the sun to shine through.
A clear pane,
A clean pane —
Is what I would be —
Unconcerned with temperament
And personality.
I would have Love shine through me,
So that my friends would say,
Not, “What a lovely pane of glass!”
But “What a lovely day!”

The Christian Science Monitor, April 26, 1940

Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels

Gratitude and Love Lead

This new year heralds a new decade, bringing with it untold blessings to all of us who are “leaning on the sustaining infinite” (Science and Health vii:1).

The Board of the Houston Visiting Christian Science Nurse Service unites with the grateful hearts of all Christian Scientists who cherish the Church Manual provision “Christian Science Nurse,” found on page 49 of the Manual of The Mother Church.

We are profoundly grateful to God for His holy work sustaining power, and loving guidance. Fittingly, we also dearly appreciate all the precious financial gifts entrusted to our care, not just because they represent the oil of gladness that makes the HVCSNS engine run, so to speak, but because such kindnesses mirror the pure, grateful hearts of the givers. It is with joy and humility that HVCSNS gives thanks for the beneficence expressed to our organization in the past year!

May we take this opportunity to mention a few of the many treasures for which we are thankful:

• Your Journal-listed Christian Science nurse, Susie Petersen, who continues to serve with selfless love and conscientious, cheerful vigilance.
• A glorious gift presented to the Houston Christian Science community last fall: An interactive workshop titled Christian Science Nurse: A Manual By-Law for Every Member and facilitated by Tina Bilhorn, a director of the School of Christian Science Nursing at Tenacre Foundation, Princeton, NJ.
• The integrity and helpfulness of our newest communication tool: https://HoustonVCSNS.org.
• The transformation of HVCSNS financial policies to bring them into full conformity with the Christianly scientific principles of transparency, immediacy, and utility.
• The addition of a professional bookkeeper who is a Class-taught Christian Scientist, who provides help to our volunteer treasurer, and who expedites our compliance with federal and state statutes.

In 2019, HVCSNS announced its intention to submit to the requisite audit/review process to become eligible for listing in The Christian Science Journal. The prayerful and practical preparation for this important step is ongoing. The Board regards Journal listing as both a protection to Christian Science nursing in Houston and a proclamation to all Journal readers who are seeking a vibrant, holy service that cares for all Houston area students of Christian Scientists needing Christian Science nursing.

The year ahead requires our constant prayer, coupled with the unction to move when and where God leads us.

For example, we are currently cherishing the anticipated Christian training of a certain class-taught member of our local Christian Science community who has a deep desire to make Christian Science nursing her career.

Another idea we hope will come to fruition in 2020 is the expansion of our five-member Board. We would love to hear from fellow Scientists who sincerely desire to join our ranks.

These and many other blessings will be revealed to us as we continue to pray to God with meekness and firm resolve. As we go forward, we are reminded of this description of "The New Woman" spoken of by our Leader in Pulpit and Press: “Her hand is tender — but steel tempered with holy resolve, and as one whom her love had glorified once said — she is soft and gentle, but you could no more turn her from her course than winter could stop the coming of spring” (82:5-9).

Photo by Freshh Connection on Unsplash

Spiritual Dimension of Care

“Spiritual Dimension of Care” will be coming to Houston! This interactive workshop is a result of months of prayer that has led HVCSNS to stand in defiance of the subtle errors of apathy and resistance to Christian Science nursing. It represents, as well, a leavening of thought, as we seek to embrace all Christian Scientists in the pure metaphysical aspects of Christian Science nursing. Please be on the lookout for an upcoming date and location.

Meet Our Newest Board Member, Salomon Ngalamulume

Salomon is an accounting graduate of the University of Houston and a member of Seventh Church, Houston. He is employed at The Branch School in the accounting department and will be transitioning in coming months into the role of HVCSNS treasurer. Salomon speaks four languages; his native tongue is French, which he spoke in the Democratic Republic of Congo before immigrating with his family to the United States and settling in Houston. He is married to his lovely wife Sarah. Welcome, Salomon!

Meet the Board

Dave Daniels, President – Ninth Church
Sue Merrill, Vice President – Bellaire Church
Linda Lindeman, Corresponding Secretary – Fourth Church
Susan Clay, Recording Secretary – Seventh Church
Salomon Ngalamulume, Treasurer – Seventh Church
Grace Duffy – Eighth Church

We would welcome a board presence from churches not currently represented.

Our office is your home – providing care in the comfort of your residence.

Thank you for your support.